The red mist around Arin thickened into a static fog. The others had formed a protective triangle behind him—Yue Lan ready to erect another spiritual barrier, Yura crouched with knives glowing ominously, and Jun Bai muttering something about his will.
The presence that had spoken earlier was still there.
Not physical. Not spiritual.
Something deeper. Like a virus that had learned how to hate.
Arin's system interface pulsed wildly.
[Corruption Node: Sentient Class – Fragmented Admin Root]
[Alias: The Nameless]
[Threat Level: ???]
[Initiating Safe Debug Protocol… failed.]
A laugh echoed inside his head.
"So… the Trash System finally evolved a mouthpiece."
Arin muttered, "Great. Even the evil admin fragments talk like they're on LinkedIn."
He stepped forward. "Look, Mister Nameless—mind if I call you 'Namey'? I'm kind of new to this whole cosmic debugger thing. Can we skip the dramatic corruption speech and just point me to the 'off' button?"
The mist boiled.
Jun Bai hissed, "Are you taunting a system fragment?!"
"Of course," Arin said. "It's my main stat."
"You think humor will protect you, meatcode?"
The voice slithered through his thoughts like a greasy worm dipped in dread.
Yue Lan raised her sword. "It's not talking to just you anymore."
Arin's system flashed again:
[Warning: Host has been recognized as a Threat-Class Interference Agent]
[Admin Fragment attempting to overwrite local system permissions]
[Trash System Countermeasure Engaged: Passive Aggressive Firewall Activated]
"Wait," Arin blinked. "Passive-aggressive firewall?"
A cartoon notification box popped up.
[Uh-oh! Looks like someone's being naughty! How about NOT rewriting my user, you greasy fragment? 😊]
Even Yura laughed at that one.
The Nameless paused.
For a moment, the mist shifted into a humanoid form—more glitch than ghost, its face constantly flickering through dozens of unreadable error messages.
"...What are you?"
Arin stood tall—or as tall as a short, underpowered cultivator with noodle arms could.
"I'm Arin. Trash System user. Future scam exposer. Current danger to your shady operations. Oh—and I once bribed my own system using fried buns."
The Nameless began to surge forward, cracking the rocks and twisting trees as it moved. "You should not exist. Your system should have been deleted."
[System Interjection: I was supposed to be. Then I hid in a celestial trash can for 11,000 years. Long story.]
Arin smiled. "So I'm the bug in the bug-hunter. That makes me… the anti-patch."
The corrupted fragment extended a limb made of error codes toward him.
"Then let's delete you, Patchboy."
Before it could touch him, Yue Lan slammed her sword into the ground, forming a divine circle barrier.
Yura followed with a flurry of spirit fox seals.
Jun Bai, finally brave, yelled, "DISCOUNT ILLUSIONS ACTIVATE!" and released twenty holograms of Arin doing weird dances.
The fragment paused.
Even ancient, chaotic evil needed a second to process that.
Arin grinned and pulled out a Spirit Debug Seal Elder Mushi had thrown at him before the mission.
[DEBUG SEAL: Experimental – Chance of Explosion 50%]
[Effect: Either repairs a corrupted entity… or turns it into soup]
He didn't hesitate.
He slammed the seal into the fragment's chest.
It screeched. Code tore. Mist screamed.
And everything went white.
When Arin opened his eyes again, he was lying face-down in a crater. Yue Lan hovered above him, hair messed up, and clearly stressed.
"Did we win?" he groaned.
"No idea," she said. "But the ghost squirrels are gone."
Jun Bai muttered, "I think I hallucinated a system begging for therapy."
Yura stood over him with her arms crossed. "You're alive. Disappointing."
Arin sat up. His system dinged softly.
[Corruption Fragment Dispersed: 62%]
[System Report Sent to Higher Realms… No Response]
[Reward: 1 "Maybe Useful" Artifact]
A small cube fell from the sky and hit Arin in the face.
"OW!"
It unfolded mid-air.
[Artifact: The Debug Dice]
[Effect: Once per day, roll to fix one problem… or cause another.]
Arin stared at it. "So basically… gambling with reality?"
His system flashed:
[That's literally your life now.]